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Adolphe Arnold

August 22, 1897
—Kruth, France

Adolphe was born to Catholic parents in Alsace when it was under German rule. He was orphaned at age 12, and was raised by his uncle who sent him to an art school in Mulhouse, where he specialized in design. He married in the village of Husseren-Wesserling in the southern part of Alsace, and in 1930 the couple had a baby daughter. In 1933 the Arnolds moved to the nearby city of Mulhouse.

1933-39: I worked in Mulhouse as an art consultant for one of France's biggest printing factories. When I wasn't working at home or at the factory, I was studying the Bible, and enjoying classical music. Disillusioned with the Catholic church, my wife and I decided to become Jehovah's Witnesses. Under the French, we were free to practice our new faith.

1940-44: The Germans occupied Mulhouse in June 1940. While at the factory on September 4, 1941, I was arrested because I was a Jehovah's Witness and imprisoned in Mulhouse for two months. In January I was sent to the Dachau concentration camp, where I was beaten by the SS and subjected to medical experiments for malaria. My sister-in-law was able to smuggle to me some Jehovah's Witness literature hidden inside cookies. In September 1944 I was transferred to the Mauthausen concentration camp.

Adolphe was liberated in May 1945 in Ebensee, a subcamp of Mauthausen. After the war he returned to France and was reunited with his family.